Page 41 of Wicked Angel
Pain lanced through me, but I pushed on, breaking through the tree line and racing above the forest canopy. The dagger felt like a brand against my hip, burning with the weight of its importance.
I had to protect it. Had to get it somewhere safe, away from Rhodes and Molraz and whatever terrible purpose they intended for it.
The forest gave way to rocky terrain, and ahead I could see the edge of a cliff, with the ocean pounding against the rocks far below. I veered toward it, hoping to find a new direction, but Molraz was too close now.
With a savage cry, he caught up to me, his clawed hand closing around my wing. Pain exploded through me as he wrenched me backward, his grip tightening until I felt feathers tear.
We crashed to the ground in a tangle of wings and limbs, skidding across the rocky earth until we came to a stop mere yards from the cliff's edge. I scrambled to my feet, drawing my sword with trembling hands.
Molraz rose before me, towering and terrible, his eyes blazing with demonic fire. He had emitted an evilness about him as a man, but now as a demon, in his tall, twisted form, with huge bat-like wings, dark skin, and blazing eyes, he was terrifying.
“The dagger, little angel,” he growled, his voice deep. “Give it to me, and perhaps I'll make your death quick.”
“Never,” I gasped, though my voice quavered with fear.
He lunged, faster than I could react. His claws raked across my arm, drawing blood and taking my sword from me. He closed his claw around the hilt, and darkfire surround it. A second, my sword was there. The next, it was a cloud of ashes.
I staggered back, clutching my wounded arm, my wings flaring instinctively for balance. Molraz's gaze fixed on them, and a cruel smile spread across his face.
“No wings,” he said, “no escape.”
He moved with terrifying speed, his hands clamping around the base of my right wing before I could dodge. Pain like nothing I'd ever known tore through me as he pulled, the sickening sound of ripping flesh and breaking bone filling my ears.
I screamed, the world going white with agony. My knees buckled, but Molraz held me upright by my wing, prolonging the torture. With a final, savage wrench, he tore it free.
The pain was unimaginable. Beyond description. Beyond comprehension. I collapsed to the ground, blood pouring from the ragged wound where my wing had been. Through a haze of agony, I saw Molraz toss the severed wing aside like garbage.
He reached for the other one.
I was too dazed with pain to fight, and in an instant, he ripped off the other wing as well.
“Too easy,” he snarled. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Desperation gave me strength I didn't know I had. I rolled away from him, my body screaming in protest, and scrambled toward a broken branch. Not thinking straight, I grabbed it and pointed the sharpened end at him.
Molraz laughed, the sound like stones grinding together. “Still fighting, little angel? How admirable. How futile.”
In the distance, I could see Rhodes approaching, flanked by his loyal Seraphim. Time was running out.
With a cry that was half rage, half despair, I called on my light magic—the pure energy that resided at the core of every angel. It flared around me, brilliant and blinding, momentarily forcing Molraz back.
It wouldn't last long. I knew that. But it might give me the seconds I needed.
I staggered to the cliff's edge, blood trailing behind me, the dagger still secure in my belt. Below, the ocean crashed against jagged rocks, dark and forbidding.
Molraz recovered quickly, advancing on me with fury etched into his demonic features. “There's nowhere to go, angel. Give me the dagger.”
I looked at him, then at Rhodes approaching in the distance, then back at the churning river below.
“No,” I said simply, and stepped backward off the cliff.
The fall seemed to last forever. The wind tore at my face, and the river rushed up to meet me with deadly promise. I closed my eyes, clutching the dagger to my chest.
If this was death, at least I'd die knowing I'd kept the dagger from their hands.
The impact with the water was like hitting solid stone. Pain exploded through me, and then darkness swallowed everything.
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